Report says Afghan drug effort lacks strategy

The United States-led counternarcotics effort in Afghanistan, viewed as critical to halting the flow of funds to the Taliban and curtailing corruption, lacks a long-term strategy, clear objectives and a plan for handing over responsibility to Afghans, the State Department inspector general said in a report released Wednesday. "The department has not clarified an end state for counternarcotics efforts, engaged in long-term planning or established performance measures," said the 63-page report, which evaluates work done by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the State Department. The report said that military and civilian antidrug programs lacked clearly delineated roles, and that civilian contracts for counternarcotics work were poorly written and largely supervised from thousands of miles away. It also said that cooperation between the United States Embassies in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Islamabad, Pakistan, was limited, adding, "This lack of cooperation is due, in part, to Embassy Islamabad's conclusion that there is no connection between illicit narcotics and the insurgency in Pakistan."